The chlorosome, the extremely efficient light harvesting antenna in green photosynthetic bacteria, captures energy from sunlight and funnels it to reaction centers to create fuel for the bacteria

Chlorosomes consist of thousands of pigment molecules called chlorins that, unlike pigments in the antennas of plants and algae, self-assemble into a highly-organized structure

Chlorin pigments were synthesized in the laboratory and demonstrated to self assemble to form an antenna structure; experiments are now testing activity

Top: Schematic of chlorosome antenna with baseplate and reaction center complex. Bottom: On the left, the specific chlorin pigment found in chlorosomes, bacteriochlorophyll c; on the right, a schematic of the possible structure of bacteriochlorophyll c molecules in the chlorosome.

Support: Work was performed at North Carolina State University, University of Washington St. Louis, and UC Riverside and supported by the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center, an EFRC led by Robert Blankenship at Washington University in St. Louis.